Conventional head rests and/or travel pillow are known in the art. The popular yoke neck pillow provides comfort yet a person's head will not be maintained against the rest once the person falls asleep when bumps and jostling of travel occur. As a result, yoke type pillows along have disadvantages that the head will fall forward waking the person and interrupting the person's rest.
Various travel devices and pillows have been tried to improve rest for a person when travelling in an upright position as illustrated in U.S. and foreign Patent and U.S. Pat. Nos. 16,300 A, 382,949 A, 1,579,585 A, 4,097,086 A, 4,560,201 A, and Patent Publication Nos. 2004/026,979 A1, and 2010/114,435 A1. For example, a neck pillow with straps in the front have been disclosed in the art and the configuration uses straps across the front torso to attach to the persons arms so as to utilize the weight of the user's arms to hold the head in the upright position as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 16,300 A, 382,949 A, 1,579,585 A and 4,560,201 A.
Other arrangements have been disclosed in the art and the configuration uses straps to attach to the backrest of the chair as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,097,086 A and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2010/114,435 A1.
Still yet other arrangements have been disclosed in the art and the configuration uses straps to attach to the thighs of the individual and back of the chair as shown in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/026,979 A1 and WIPO International Publication No. WO 2013/1311467 A2.
However, these have limited commercial success as the head will not be maintained against the rest or in a resting position. These have disadvantages of comfort to the user as the user's head will fall forward due to bumps and jostling inherent in travel means. For example, in the prior art, these have disadvantages in pulling the user's head forward waking the person and interrupting the person's rest. Moreover, their appearance is less than desirable in present day aircraft, busses and cars. Therefore, there is a long-felt need for a travel pillow or a neck pillow device that will maintain the user's head against the headrest during travel.
The present invention is directed to a unique solution for this problem and provides complete and adequate support of the head in the rearward direction. The neck of the user is supported and the head is anchored against forward movement in order to relieve the neck muscles and hold the head in a comfortable position. Moreover, the apparatus and system can be folded or rolled into a very compact size for easy storage and use as a standard pillow. The apparatus and system accomplishes this in a comfortable way that results in the traveler obtaining satisfactory and relaxing rest. The present invention provides unique and unexpected result in that it is quite comfortable and restful to use.